We waited in some special room that had a full view of the arena. It was frankly the direct opposite end of where Peter and his men were seated. Mr Wick was there with him, and Daisy certainly had the best seat in the whole Colosseum. Although she looked awkward sitting there among the other adults. I can see that she is uncomfortable, but Peter was there to calm her. I wonder if Peter will find it weird that a 10-year-old is behaving like a 5-year-old. But at the very least, we don't have to worry about her wellbeing. She will certainly be in safe hands when we duke it out with the finalist and eventually the secret pupil that Peter is so proud of. Who is it though? Can it be? No, it can't be. She rarely comes to this side of the continent in the first place, and I don't recall that she had trained under Peter.

  Well, no reason to think about it now. Sooner or later, I'll be able to see who that person in question is. I guess all we have to do now is wait for someone to make it to the finalist. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be some level 10 dude. No way is a level 1 going to be able to make it until the end. They separate the levels to make things more interesting for the viewers. If we were to fight Level 1s at the very beginning, how boring would that had been. It would probably be someone running away from my Fear spell once again. No one wants to see a grown-ass man screaming while running away. Come to think of it, something like that did happen before.

  There was a huge crowd of contestants that had joined this tournament. There is probably a way for them to narrow things down quicker with the sheer number of people who joined. Judging by the size of the arena, probably multiple fights will occur simultaneously. Or perhaps an all-out battle between each level to see who is the best? Whichever it is, I'm looking forward to some entertainment myself. I doubt there would be a finalist today, so the two of us should just relax. So much for getting prepared for today's event.

  Among the contestants, however, one of them stood out among the rest. Not because he looked strong or anything, but his appearance just stood out from the rest. He was wearing nothing but white underwear and holding a wooden club. His appearance was… something else. Is he seriously expecting to fight in the tournament with nothing but that? He’s probably some low-level adventurer who can’t afford to buy anything. But how broke can you be to not even afford rags? Guess I was lucky that my grandfather gave me a decent amount of money to start out with. I wish him luck that he will be able to put up a good fight for the other contestants despite his appearance. All the best, chap.

  ***

  What in the actual… H.. he actually did it. He ended as the finalist! H… how is that even possible?! He had this special power that made him resurrect himself over and over. None of the contestants had any idea how to defeat him permanently. No wonder he needed nothing but an undergarment and a wooden club when he had such an overpowered ability. I seriously need to figure out a way to stop him from resurrecting himself. Otherwise, in a battle of attrition, I’m eventually going to lose like the others. So much for underestimating him.

  Rose was intrigued that this person made it to be the finalist. She told me if I ended up losing, she would handle it. Geez, such little faith in me. I’ll show her what I'm made of. I slid down my mask and headed towards the arena. What awaited me was a battle that I would had never imagined.

  ***

  “Ladies and gentlemen! We have made it to the semi-finals! I promise you all that this battle between the semi-finalists will be one for the books! Let us see who will make it to the finals! Allow me to introduce you to the combatants. In this corner, we have a champion that rose above all else from the very beginning, defeating and conquering all the other combatants with his special resurrection powers and sheer tenacity, armed with nothing but a wooden club and his undergarments. Please welcome… THE WRETCHED!” shouted the announcer.

  The whole Colosseum roared and clapped as he came out from the entrance. He was carrying a broken statue of some sort along with his wooden club. He placed the statue at the side of the arena and roared towards the crowd. He certainly knows how to make an entrance. I guess I should wait for the announcer to introduce me before I show myself.

  “And in this corner, we have a mysterious outsider. He is known as the man who single-handedly overthrew the Queen of the West and made her run for her money. In doing so, our relationship with the West had been restored, and we can trade in peace now. Certainly not a hero that we deserved, but a hero that we needed. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the Dark Caped CRUSADER!!” shouted the announcer.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I appeared from the entrance and onto the arena with my mask on. To my surprise, not a single cheer or clap could be heard. Everyone was dead silent, and I could literally hear my own footstep as I made my way into the arena. Is everyone afraid of my mask? Or are they just unfamiliar with me? It doesn’t matter, I guess. My attention is focused purely on defeating this person who calls himself the Wretched. Not exactly a cool nickname, but certainly better than mine somehow.

  I stood at the opposite end of my opponent. Everything was dead silent until I heard a small clapping in the distance. I turned towards the sound and saw that Daisy was the only one who was clapping loudly while cheering for me. It was then that I lifted my hand in a fist and pointed it towards Daisy. It didn’t matter if the crowd was not cheering for me; all I needed was my daughter’s cheerful face to boost my confidence in battle. I was smiling underneath my mask when I saw her responding to my fist bump of her own.

  Things happened in the least expected way when I saw Peter start chuckling and started clapping himself, followed by Mr Wick, who was standing behind him. Suddenly, the crowd started following suit, and more people began clapping after the founder himself began cheering for me. Even after becoming the fourth, I still get pity claps. Ah well, beggars can’t be choosers. Daisy’s encouragement was all that I needed anyway.

  I readied my stance towards my opponent, who was smirking at me. Getting cocky, eh? You’ll regret that.

  “Are you all ready for the semi-finals? Too bad if you’re not, because let the battle BEGIN!” shouted the announcer.

  As expected, my wretched opponent roared in fury and dashed towards me with his wooden club held high up. I still cannot get over the fact that a bare-naked man with nothing but his underwear is dashing towards me, but I need to focus on his movements. He swung his club with a downwards strike, but he missed and it slammed to the ground, which shattered the arena tiles. I had dodged to the side and gave a palm strike of my own, but he rolled to the side and avoided my attack. This person likes to roll rather than dodging attacks, based on my observation from all his previous fights.

  He leaped at me and attempted to slam his wooden club at me once again. I guided his attack and slammed it to the ground. I attempted another palm strike, but he leaped backwards and made a forward dash immediately in an attempt to hit me. I made a quick step to the side and instantly delivered a counter punch to his chest, but as soon as I thought I made contact with his body, it somehow did not connect as he rolled away from my fist. What the hell? I was sure my fist had reached him, but somehow it did not connect as soon as he started rolling. It defies all logic!

  He made another roar and charged towards me once again. I had enough of his rolling and made my stance to charge up my strength. It was then he started rolling around. I was confused as to why he was panic rolling when all I did was readied my stance to attack. My eyes were getting tired in seeing him rolling around, but at one point, he stopped rolling somehow. Perhaps he had tired himself out needlessly. Now’s my chance.

  I dashed towards him and made contact with his chest using my left knife hand stance. Then I retracted my left hand and slammed my explosive right fist on his chest. This time I definitely made contact with him. Have a taste of the power of Fa Jin Zhòu.

  The Wretched flew backwards and made exaggerated death movements while his body started to shine and dissipate. It was then his body fully disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the arena with him being anew. This is his true power. Battle of attrition until his opponent falls over. What a scary power to fight against. I need to find how to stop his resurrection power, or I will definitely lose.

  ***

  We fought for almost 30 minutes, and I had so-called “killed” him many times now, yet he kept coming back. While he did not inflict any serious wounds on me, he did manage to hit me once or twice with his club, which actually hurt. This bloody caveman is tiring me down by the second. I need to figure out how he is resurrecting himself. C’mon, think, you stupid brain, THINK!

  It was at that point that I remembered something. When he first came into the arena, he was carrying a statue and placed it by the side of the arena. But why? What was his reason for doing that in the first place? Can it be?

  The statue was directly right behind where I am standing. I reached for my dagger, which was hidden at my back and behind my cloak. I quickly tossed it at the statue before he could react. All he managed to do was to squeak out an “Ah” as my elven dagger smashed his statue and shattered it to pieces.

  He wailed a loud “NOOOO!!” and fell to his knees. What a dramatic person. Did I figure out his secret? Was his statue the reason behind his resurrection powers? Judging by his depressed look, it would seem that might be the case. I guess I might have a chance to win after all.

  He glared at me with a murderous intent. Uh oh, did I anger him that much by destroying his statue? He tossed aside his wooden club and reached for something behind him. It was then he took out a large jar and wore it on his head. It looked like a strange jar design with two handles on the side and was brown in nature with a red lid. Where on earth did he keep that giant jar behind him in the first place?

  He stood up and summoned two katanas in both of his hands. Oh shit, this guy is serious now. And he can use Sunder too?! I can feel the killing intent emitting from him. This person is not joking around now. I am almost certain that he can solo me if he wanted to. It was as though all of his experience in fighting was flowing back to him.

  His katanas were completely different from the other. On his right, he wielded a blood-red katana that had an odd design for its blade portion. It looked as though it was designed to rip apart flesh and cause his opponent to bleed profusely. His other katana on the left looked normal as compared to the other one but it glowed with a blue hue on its blade. There’s no denying that these two katanas are legendary items. This person had just turned into one of the deadliest opponents that I had ever faced. All the while he was playing around since he could resurrect himself but now he is dead serious in facing me. I need to take him seriously or I might not be able to live to see another day. And I haven’t even discovered who Peter’s new pupil is yet!

  Visit for more news, artwork and latest updates!